


Stories of the Second Self: New Eyes

by John_Steiner



Series: Alter Idem [21]
Category: Urban Fantasy - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:27:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22513984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/John_Steiner/pseuds/John_Steiner
Summary: Going to school one morning, Miranda Imura realized she forgot her glasses, but that she didn't seem to need them. In her history class she watched dumbfounded as her teach walked in on hooves and had antlers grown from his head. Miranda realized that no one else saw this.
Series: Alter Idem [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618813





	Stories of the Second Self: New Eyes

It wasn't until Miranda got to school that she realized she forgot her glasses. The reason it took so long is that everything was clear and sharp. She stood in the hallway just past the entrance, taking in all the detail.

Then her feet started to ache again, her ears throbbed, and this time a tingling in her forehead started. She ignored it, and went to first period.

"Hi Miranda," her friend Jamie said, "Will's been checkin' you out, girl."

Miranda grabbed a seat and slipped her phone out to turn the camera on. She angled it enough to see Will in a seat two rows behind her and noticed him captivated by her. Then, Miranda got the jolt of her life.

"Good morning class," Mr. Donald announced coming in.

Miranda's jaw dropped on seeing a full set of antlers on his head. For the first time, the hard crack of his shoes made sense, because Miranda saw that he wasn't wearing any over his hooves. His ears had backward points. For a fleeting instant, he seemed to register Miranda's shock, but resumed surveying the classroom as he took role.

Miranda's phone vibrated, which in first period meant that Jamie, a couple seats away, was texting her, 'Doesn't Mr. Donald look dreamy?'

'If you're okay with the horns and elf ears, I suppose,' Miranda texted back.

'Wha'cha talkin' bout, girl?' Jamie texted back.

How could she miss it? For that matter, no one else in the class seemed at all aware that their teacher was cosplaying or something.

Mr. Donald went into today's lesson, talking about the Civil Rights Movement and its continuing impact on modern times. However, Miranda couldn't bring herself to take any notes, and instead stared at Mr. Donald like he was an alien.

"Miranda, you have some thoughts on this?" Mr. Donald asked.

"Oh, what?" Miranda blurted out and shook off her daze.

"Dr. King diverts his schedule to take part in the Garbage Workers Strike," Mr. Donald reminded of where he was at in the lecture. "What is it you think compelled him to do that?"

"Ah," Miranda muttered and shrugged, at a loss for words.

"Tommy, what you got?" Mr. Donald moved onto another student.

"King did it because he knew economic injustice made people angry, and if they don't know what's making their life hard, they look for someone to blame," Tommy answered.

Tommy was the first black kid to make student body president, and he made outreach the goal of his senior year.

Mr. Donald pointed and congratulated, "Excellent, yes, that's what he was thinking. King knew that hard times drove social strife and conflict. The fact that, decades later, social tensions rise when the economy takes a hit shows that King was ahead of his time in formulating another movement to be coupled with racial equality."

Mr. Donald wrapped up the lecture, and spent the last five minutes laying out an assignment. The bell buzzed, and Mr. Donald held the class a few seconds to finish his description of the paper they were to write, and then dismissed the class.

Jamie grabbed Miranda by the arm and started to pull her aside, when Mr. Donald called out, "Ms. Imura, could you stay for a minute?"

"I'll talk to you after third period," Jamie whispered excitedly and left.

Miranda stood facing the door, unsure how she should respond. Then she finally decided to just come out with it, and turned around abruptly, "I'm so sorry for staring, Mr. Donald, it's just that...."

Her mouth moved, but she could get the last words out.

"It's alright," Mr. Donald said, sitting down on the corner of his desk, "It's jarring isn't it? Seeing these. It's the first time you noticed today, isn't it?"

"The-- the antlers," Miranda forced herself to say, "Y-yes, it is."

"It means the change is coming to you too," Mr. Donald explained, "I've had these traits for little over a year now," and he shook his head, "Not sure why, but at least they came with the ability to hide them. I'm not so sure other people will be so lucky."

"You mean those are real?" Miranda asked.

"As will yours when they start growing," Mr. Donald told her, "Have your feet started aching? Maybe a rush of blood through your ears?"

"I had that going on for a couple of weeks, but now my forehead tingles every so often."

"And now you can see through illusions," Mr. Donald added, "Which means you're going to be just like me, or maybe you'll grow a different number of points."

"I don't want this," Miranda breathed.

"No one asks for these things, Miranda," Mr. Donald said, waving a hand over his face, "We just get them and we have to deal with it. This last year was the first that I became keenly aware of hunting season."

"What are you?" Miranda asked, leaning forward.

"What are we, you mean?" Mr. Donald rephrased for her. "I don't know. Maybe someone will come up with a name, but it's not going to go away, and there's no telling what else will pop up."

"Owe!" Miranda sudden felt a crack in toes, and dropped down to reach for her foot.

Mr. Donald rushed over, and took her shoe off without asking. He moved the bones of her big toe and swollen second toe. "Yeah, it's starting."

"I can't make it stop, can I?" Miranda hissed through from the pain.

"I'm sorry, but no," Mr. Donald said, "But I can teach you how to use what else this comes with."


End file.
